One of the biggest draws for PopCult Anime Con is the Idol Showcase in which established teams or brand-new groups of performing idol cosplayers get to show off their skills. That is held at 1 p.m. on Sunday of the convention, which meant that by noon the open space near my studio was packed with people waiting for seating to start. The Photo Dept. Lead WaterDragondesign decided to get the photo team lunch before the Idol Showcase started, which worked out great because she got back with a couple of awesome pulled pork tacos just as the seating began and the crowds in front of me all but vanished.

The Idol Showcase ran for two solid hours, which gave me enough time to enjoy my lunch and still get some photos of cosplayers not in the Eden Vale ballroom. Once the Showcase ended it seemed like many of the attendees hit the road. The hour before the start of the next event, the Closing Ceremonies Dance Party at 4 p.m., was pretty quiet. The Exhibit Hall closed at 5 p.m., and I planned to stay around until then, but it was so slow I started breaking down the studio 15 minutes early. The last cosplayer in all the galleries, cosplaying Hatsune Miku, showed up just as I started to pick up the “tag your social media” book on the table, well before I shut down my flashes or started collapsing the backdrop stand. Perfect timing.

Overall, this year’s PopCult Anime Con went very well for us. I can think of a few things I will change for next year. We have enough space for three lights so I can go to a traditional main, fill and key light setup. The black backdrop doesn’t work well with the small spring clips, so I will go back to the bigger clamps and clamp the edges of the backdrop directly to the stands, pulling it tighter and eliminating the creases. And I’ll remember to check that I have enough gaff tape.

Cosplayers in this final gallery from PopCult Anime Con 2024 include c0splaygirlz, blondie__sundae, millie_halprin, kpgbrock, makeupmermaidcos deshsaionji, bee._.cos1, the.sweet.card, j_lucsol, hiddenghostcosplay, milkybqbbes, dazaissecretchild, polarwildcatstudios, miserbilality, fluffybirbcos, edenihira, tojimaiu, vamprizo, lunarfanged, animesuckx, peachie_medicine, balletwitchery, jng.cos, bran.077, ninjabluecosplay, and many more.

We now use Smugmug to present cosplay photo galleries and will post all photos there, with a link to each gallery in its own gallery article. This will allow us to give you higher resolution images to download — still for free.

To view the entire gallery, just click on the image below. If you are pictured in any of our galleries, feel free to download the images and use them non-commercially on social media, with appropriate credit.

If you like our work and want to show your appreciation, feel free to tip us at Ko-fi or become a patron on Patreon.

Also, High-res images for sale is back!

If you are pictured in any of our galleries and want the high-resolution (3200 pixels at its widest by 300dpi) download for yourself, we can make it available via a private Smugmug link, for $10 per image. Just send an email to editor AT nerdcaliber.com. Currently limited to only photos taken by FirstPerson Shooter (aka Rodney Brown).


Click on the image above to see the full gallery.

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